FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CRUELTY - PAGE 3

McDonald's cracked down on one of its major egg producers Friday, following the release of undercover video that showed hens and chicks being mistreated and tortured by workers and crowded into wire cages. The Oak Brook-based restaurant chain acted swiftly to break ties with Litchfield, Minn.-based Sparboe Farms, which had been providing eggs to Cargill Kitchen Solutions, a McDonald's supplier. McDonald's said the specific Sparboe facilities depicted in the video were not producing eggs for the chain.

An Aurora man convicted last month of cruelty to horses and improper disposal of horse carcasses has been sentenced to 45 days of work release and fined $1,000 in Du Page County Circuit Court in Wheaton. Associate Judge Richard A. Lucas on Monday ordered Joseph Von Patterson, 41, to spend nights and weekends in Du Page County Jail beginning July 25. Patterson will be allowed to work during the day at his job as a construction laborer. He also will serve a year's probation. Lucas noted that Patterson has a record of prior convictions, including cruelty to animals in Kane County in 1974.

An Oak Forest couple accused of keeping their pet Rottweiler chained to a tree and letting its six puppies die of malnutrition have been found not guilty of aggravated cruelty by a Cook County judge, who said he was unhappy with the ruling. Associate Judge Thomas O'Hara said he came to his conclusion late Thursday because prosecutors failed to prove Nathan McGovern, 39, and Dawn Brenzek, 25, had shown aggravated cruelty to animals. The couple let their Rottweiler, Vienna, give birth to her six puppies in their garage Dec. 18, but admitted they knew she might have trouble lactating because it ran in her breed.

A Woodridge man has been indicted on charges of cruelty to a companion animal for abandoning his diseased dog. A DuPage County grand jury announced the indictment Friday against Calvin Thigpen, 23, charging he abandoned the dog, a pit bull mix, which was less than a year old, in a village business district on June 6. The dog, named Precious, was unable to recuperate from serious infections, mange and other injuries and was euthanized June...

In Remains Theatre's stage version of Vladimir Nabokov's 1932 novel "Laughter in the Dark," Heidi Stillman plays Margot Peters, a vicious and manipulative movie usherette. The part comes straight from hell. Rapacious and ambitious, 18-year-old Margot efficiently destroys the career and shortens the life of Albinus, a famous art critic (Gerry Becker). Unlike Nabokov's later and more famous creation Lolita-a nymphet who is more the victim than the exploiter of her middle-aged lover Humbert Humbert-this Berlin bombshell instigates her opportunism.

Something patrolled along the creek in the night. Something supple and solitary came undulating over the deep white snow with the soft tread of a nocturnal sorcerer, its tracks a careless suturing beside the black wound of the stream. It dragged its belly here and there as it snooped beside the slick waters, and occasionally it slipped down to inspect the cold filigree on the thin edge of forming ice. It was all the discarded script of a wild mink, put down with careless precision after a single performance, and infinitely taunting to an audience that is forever tardy.

The Anti-Cruelty Society's outreach to Chicago-area animals began more than 100 years ago, when it installed watering troughs for thirsty workhorses and opened a shelter for stray dogs and cats. Today, it claims to be the largest private animal-welfare organization in Chicago. And it's about to get bigger. The group broke ground last month on an $8 million project to renovate its facilities, including an expansion into the basement of its four-building complex at LaSalle Drive and Grand Avenue.

I found your cartoon, "Paper-training your dog," by John Long (Nov. 19), repulsive and tasteless. It is hard enough to persuade people to respect other people, let alone teach them respect for animals. I fail to see the humor in torturing a defenseless dog. It may promote cruelty to animals and does not belong anywhere, especially in a widely read magazine. - Pamella Malik, Des Plaines It is not often that I write to a newspaper about a cartoon. But I felt compelled to write after viewing the one where the poodle is tied to cement blocks.

A judge dismissed animal cruelty charges Monday against a 4-H club queen who had been accused with her family of torturing and killing farm animals. Lapeer District Judge Laura Barnard said she dismissed the charges because of a lease showing Kate Mills, 20, was living at Michigan State University at the time of the March arrests. ---------- Items compiled from Tribune news services.

The Illinois General Assembly has approved a bill sponsored by state Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis (R-Zion) and state Rep. Lauren Beth Gash (D-Highland Park) to increase penalties for people who repeatedly torture animals. The bill, which is awaiting Gov. George Ryan's signature, would allow people who are charged with cruelty to animals more than once to be charged with a Class 4 felony rather than a Class A misdemeanor. If convicted of the felony charge, an offender could face a 1-to-3-year prison term.